Onyka, me and Briggette, just before the race. Onyka and I walked at a good pace, while Briggette ran ahead. It was my first time not running a race like this (I decided to keep Onyka company) and it is a decidedly different group of people. The walkers take it at a more leisurely pace, it is more of a fun event for them rather than a competition. There are the families with strollers, the people trying to get fit, the girls in full hair and makeup (one even in purple suede boots!) and corporate teams. It was an enjoyable experience, but it was definitely strange not competing.

This post was going to be more celebratory, but a life was lost during yesterday’s Sagicor/Sigma 5K race. Thirty-six-year-old Alicia Prince died just after the 1 kilometer mark this morning. My friend Onyka and I passed her; she was lying down with people holding her legs up in the air. She apparently fell and hit her head. She was treated immediately by paramedics and doctors who were on the course, to no avail.

I cannot imagine the grief and shock her family and friends must be feeling. Think about it: your wife, or daughter or sister or mother wakes up early one morning to participate in a charity run. She must have been excited, optimistic, determined. Then, her loved ones get the message that she is no longer alive, probably due to a misstep or a stumble. The cliche that life is so precious and fragile fits here.

The executives quickly sent out their condolences to the family, but nothing will help right now. This 5K race is the largest in Kingston and grows every year. There were 24,000 participants this year, and $26million JMD was raised for a local children’s hospital.

Good Friday morning! Enjoy your day.

The beautiful pink sands of Harbour Island, Bahamas, in case you need a calming image today.

Today is ash Wednesday, a holiday for most people. The winds are blowing, perhaps the heat is coming back. The city seems quiet. This dog was just chilling out on Winifred Beach in Portland. Enjoy your day.

The murder rate is up over the same period last year, according to statistics from the Jamaica Constabulary Force, as indicated in the Gleaner.

according to the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) weekly crime review, up to Sunday, at least 141 murders had been reported over the past six weeks of 2015. Eighty of these killings are thought to be gang related; 36 as criminal, but not gang related; and 13 were domestic killings. There was one mob killing, while the motives for another 11 have not yet been established. The report indicated that most of the murders have taken place in the St Catherine North (19) and Clarendon (13) divisions.

National Security Minister Peter Bunting visited a particularly hard-hit community over the weekend and delivered a message of support and a call for divine intervention. This is according to the reporter’s account, however. I would have like to hear the entire speech, but alas, the government does not release such speeches, nor does it really release its comprehensive crime strategy.

Crime continues to be fueled mostly by gang activity, so what is the strategy to combat this ever-present reality?

Here is the lede of the story:

It is not that they have run out of ammunition or crime-fighting strategies, but the police have embarked on a path of divine intervention to manage crime in the east Kingston community of McIntyre Villa, where National Security Minister Peter Bunting used several Bible texts to explain to residents the demonic powers that he said the nation was up against.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers,” Bunting told the residents of ‘Dunkirk’ Saturday night during a Valentine’s Day gospel concert hosted by the police. The concert was a gesture to enhance peace in a community that was torn apart by violence last year when two persons, 17-month-old Threjan Harvey and an adult, Demar McKenzie, were murdered on Valentine’s Day.

This post is more a criticism of the rhetoric rather than sticking to the facts by the reporter in this story. It leaves the reader with more questions than answers and contributes to the confusion surrounding crime and police response in this country. What else did the Minister say? Why was he there? Why did he invoke these particular citations? Would the police agree that they have “embarked on a path of divine intervention”? Did the Minister also outline crime strategies (which the reporter left out) or did he simply stick with the Biblical message? (Of course, politicians tailor their message to the audience…or was the reporter trying to slant the story a particular way?)

Is this article meant to invoke such a skeptical tone or is it a reflection of the genuine religious devotion in this country? I don’t know…There’s so much we don’t know. Why is the murder rate up?

On the same day, the Gleaner also published a story  (Headline: Major crimes down in St. Thomas except murder) that begs confusion: apparently major crimes are down in the parish of St. Thomas, but the murder rate is up. How are we to take this? Is it good news or bad? Why?

So many questions, fueled by both consistently incomplete reporting and a lack of information from the authorities, which of course wedges all the parties further and further apart.

Yesterday evening we were getting our car fixed in a yard in Crossroads. There were four beautiful little children playing in the dust and dirt. They were throwing ripening fruit at one another and laughing and giggling all the while. I don’t think there is a lovelier sound in the world than children’s laughter. They were called Ricardo, who is 10, and Jamie, who is 8. When I asked him how old he was, he looked down at his hands and counted out 8 fingers.

There is certainly enough depressing news to lose hope here some days, so any progress is so heartening and encouraging. Such is the case with the news that Jamaica is set to become one of the first countries to reach the target to reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Unicef Jamaica this week issued a release and apparently the Ministry of Health will do the same later on with the release of a report to the Pan-american Health Organization.

The Minister of Health, Dr. Fenton Ferguson, confirmed the reduction, which was 10 per cent in 2004 and is now down to a rate of two per cent. In addition, over the last decade, the rate of child deaths from HIV has fallen by 43 per cent while there has been a 25 per cent reduction in transmissions. The improvement has come from the purchase of anti-retroviral drugs, the union of several health authorities and partnerships with the private sector. Here is Dr. Ferguson:

“Jamaica has made good progress especially in the areas of the prevention of mother to child transmission and the availability and use if anti-retroviral drugs. The Government is moving towards ownership of the HIV Programme and has put in place several initiatives towards this including the integration of the National HIV/STI Programme with the National Family Planning Board to create one sexual reproductive health authority, the purchase of ARVs through GOJ budget and undertaking a sustainability study of the national programme.”

Jamaica has one of the highest rates of infection in the world among men who have sex with men and a prevalence rate of about 1.5 per cent. Here are some more facts from JIS:

AIDS STATISTICS FOR JAMAICA

• In Jamaica, it is estimated that 32,000 persons are living with HIV and as many as 50% are unaware of their status.
• The most urbanized parishes have the highest cumulative number of reported HIV cases: Kingston & St. Andrew – 1570.1 cases per 100,000 persons, and St. James – 2094.6 HIV cases per 100,000 persons.
• The total number of reported AIDS cases in Jamaica between January 1982 and December 2011 is 16,264. The total number of reported AIDS deaths in Jamaica between January 1982 and December 2011 is eight thousand four hundred and ninety eight (8,498).
• The cumulative AIDS case rates are higher among males (689.3 cases per 100,000) compared to females (504.9 cases per 100,000 females).
• Although the epidemic affects more men than women, over time females are accounting for an increased proportion of the AIDS cases that are reported annually.

The media has no trouble reporting on violence, gossip and negative news, let’s hope they give equal play to this story. It is well-deserved.

My beloved sister, looking out over the Eastern shore in St. Thomas.

While there is an abundance of foliage outside of my apartment, I have yet to bring a plant inside. It almost seems pointless, as there are literally plants growing into my window. Well, no more. The other day, a friend gave me this spider plant. I am so grateful to have some green life inside now and it is already growing, to my delight. I have always had dozens of plants inside wherever I live, but Jamaica has been an exception for some reason, perhaps because it almost seems pointless given how lush and green it is everywhere here. Let’s hope this plant thrives. I’m going to put it outside in the sun right now.